The Slender man - A Mothers Strife
by ResiEvil12346
Summary: When your daughter goes missing, how far would you go to get her back?
1. Chapter 1

" Tonight, another report of a missing child was reported to the FBI, this time it's Jessy Stephenson, a young boy only 7 years old. This brings the total number of missing children to 8 in the past 3 months. The FBI currently has no leads but they are questioning witnesses to find the last known whereabouts of the missing children. Back to to studio..."

The T.V clicked and fizzled to black. Stretching, I drop the remote in the same movement onto the sofa before wandering to the stairs and switching off the light. Looking around the dark living room one final time, noting the clock striking 11 I head upstairs. Noticing light creeping across the dark hallway from the bottom of my daughters bedroom door I tap lightly.

" Annabelle ...come on bed time...lights out."

"Alright..." She said, in a tone which indicated she would rather not.

"You have school in the morning, I don't want you half asleep again cause you've spent all night on YouTube again." I sigh, annoyed at the fact we have to talk through her door to do this.

"Okay okay..." There was the twang of bed springs and the click of the lamp, the corridor was dark again.

"See you in the morning, love you." I pause for a moment before heading to my own room.

"Love you too Mum." Hearing her settle under the covers I walk off with a small smile on my face and head into my own room to go to sleep.

The next morning when getting ready for work the report about the missing kids was on again on the TV, Annabelle who was 13, nearly 14, ate her cereal without a care. Biting my lip i turned to the top cupboard and pulled out a box. I hated knowing that in this day an age no one could be trusted, but I had a horrible foreboding in the pit of my stomach that if I didn't do this, if anything did happen...

Turning to the table I see Annabelle had all but finished her breakfast, I place the box in front of her and she peers up at me with a queer look.

"What's this?" She reached for the box and opened it to discover a Blackberry mobile phone.

"Oh Em Jee!" (OMG) I cringe. "Thanks Mum, oh I promise i will not break it!"

"You had better not! And it's not a toy, you know those kids that have gone missing? That's why you have that! I don't want to find out you've had it confiscated in school. You have to make sure it's charged at all times before you go to school and your only to use it in an emergency...understand!"

"Okay Mum..." Annabelle replied in a more somber tone, the message seemed to hit home.

"Good...now I've already put my number in there and your Nans in case I'm not able to take a call, okay?" Annabelle nodded and smiled.

"Okay off with you now, if you hang around anymore you'll miss your bus."

Annabelle rose from her seat and pulled on her coat. Grabbing her bag she crossed the kitchen and wrapped her arms around my shoulders and gave me a quick peck on the cheek, "Thanks Mum, love you!"

I smile and as she headed out the door I called back "Love you too!"

When I returned home from work I began my usual chores, getting tea ready and feeding the rabbit in the garden Annabelle had begged me for over a year ago but forgot about in 6 months as is the usual attention span. When it turned half past five I began to grow worried. Annabelle was usually home for 5, it was a good job I gave her the mobile phone.

Pulling mine out of my handbag I dial her number, it rings briefly before being answered.

"Hello?" It wasn't Annabelle.

"Hello...who is this?"

"Is that Annabelle's mother?"

"Yes it is!" I say rather abrupt.

"Good, this is Annabelle's maths teacher..."

I curse in my own head and grit my teeth, she's had it confiscated, and now I'm the one who's going to be chastised over it.

"You do know Miss Cullan that mobile phones are strictly prohibited in school grounds."

I roll my eyes, of course I do, but I thought my daughter had enough brains in her pretty head to know flaunt her new phone about the place.

"Yes I understand but the phone was a specific means of getting in touch with my daughter in an emergency situation. She is late home from school and you have her phone. Due to the children going missing I thought it wise to give her some sort of communication should anything happen to her!"

Yes I played the guilt trip card but the woman's tone was so belittling it pissed me off.

"We'll Mrs Cullan your daughter ran out in tears after I confiscated her phone in the 3rd period, and she didn't report to any other class after that."

Dread now started to seep through my chest.

"And you didn't think to call me and let me know my 13 year old daughter had gone missing from school with a suspected kidnapper on the loose!"

I didn't give the bitch time to answer as my words spat out in bitter anger.

"I want to speak to the head teacher right now!"


	2. Chapter 2

After putting my point of view to the headmaster on the conduct of the school in relation to letting my 13 year old daughter leave the school premise without informing myself or sending someone after her. He did apologise under the pretence he would call around her friends parents to see weather she went to a friends house after school. He left me pacing for 15 minutes before calling me back to let me know that the last person to see her was her friend Emma who had chased after her when she had left the class room.

That was it I lost it, "My daughter could by lying in a ditch somewhere because of your polices. Give me the girls address now!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that under data protection..."

"Data protection my arse, give me the address or I go to the papers about your conduct on missing children!"

"I can't give you the address Miss Cullan but I can forward their phone number so you can request to visit."

As soon as the Headmaster read out the number and I confirmed I had written it down correctly I hung up. Immediately I dialled the number given to me, it rang 5 times before someone answered. It was a woman I assumed it would be Emma's mother.

"Hello...is it possible if I can speak with Emma?"

"Emma's not here at the moment...who's calling?"

I could hear beeping in the background as if they were in some sort of hospital.

"I'm Annabelle's mother, please I really need to speak to Emma, Annabelle's gone missing."

"Emma..." Her voice stuttered and then she cleared her throat. "Emma is currently in the hospital..."

There was a horrible scream in the foreground.

"No No No I need to get away from the window!" Suddenly the sound of many metal instruments hitting the floor rang through the phone, I had to pull it away from my hear due to the discomfort.

"EMMA! Sorry Mrs Cullan, come down to the hospital, I'll talk to you here. Ask for Emma Stephenson at reception to the psychiatric ward..." The phone then went dead.

I pulled the phone away from my ear slowly looking to the phone for a few moments before springing into gear. I grabbed my keys and my purse and was out the door.

When I entered the hospital i followed the directions to psych ward. I wondered to myself why Annabelle would hang around with someone who was so unstable. Finally I turned a corner to see a pair of doors, I try to open them only to find them locked. Peering inside the slit windows I notice people moving about and for a moment I'm puzzled. Finally I notice the wall mounted screen and dial.

They keep the doors locked on a psych ward locked? My hand was shaking as I hit the intercom button.

"Hello?" The voice sounded tinny as if the speaker in the intercom was shot.

"Hi, I'm here to see Emma Stephenson?"

There was a pause for a moment before I heard the electric circuit buzz on the door, the door clicked as the magnet released and I made my way inside.

I had never in my life been in a place that made me feel so uncomfortable. The furnishings where pleasant as I walked down the corridor, but patients seemed to litter it.  
One man with a rather hefty looking beard sat in a wheelchair as if dumped. He rocked back and forth barely noticing me staring, his lips were moving as if he where speaking but he wasn't uttering a sound. The next patient I saw was an old woman, standing with a zimmoframe, her whole body seemed to tremble constantly.

"Have you seen my husband!" The sqwarked at me angrily. "His around here! Probably at it with some slut!"

I quickly hastened my pace towards the reception desk too glad to see the nursed who didn't seem at all phased by the patients milling about the place. One of them looked upto me and smiled.

"You must be Miss Cullan, Emma's Mum is waiting for you in the relatives room. Please follow me."

When I entered the room the woman who was sat in the far chair was sipping, what looked like a much needed cup of tea. I don't think I've seen someone look so stressed in my life. I heard the door click behind me as the nurse left us alone.

"You must be Mrs Stephenson?"

She looked up at me, her eyes where still red from tears. She sniffed wiping her nose quickly with a sodden piece of tissue before putting on a forced smile.

"Yes you must be Annabells Mum, please sit..." She motioned to a chair, I walked forward and sat beside her.

The atmosphere in the room was awkward, I roll my shoulders to try and release some tension from my back.

"Are you okay Mrs Stephenson?"

It was the only thing my head could come up with even though the obvious answer was, No she wasn't alright, her daughters just been committed to a psychiatric ward.

"I will be soon as Emma calms down, she's...dealing with a lot of stress at the moment..."

I nodded, and gave a sympathetic, comforting smile.

"I understand, has she mentioned Annabelle at all though...the headmaster at the school says she was the last person to see her."

"Oh yes...she hasn't shut up about seeing Annabelle, at first I thought she was just doing it for attention. She's been acting strange ever since her father walked out on us." She said spitefully.

"But then she started barricading the doors, screaming all the while "His watching me!" And "He's following me!""

She shook her head, tears started to well in her eyes, she wiped them away while sniffing trying to keep herself together.

"Mrs Stephenson...I understand your daughter has been dealing with a lot of stress but that doesn't explain..."

She continued, interrupting me, "She picked up a hammer from the tool kit in the kitchen draw, started pulling out nails. I tried to grab it off her, but she pushed me down!"

Emma's Mum then stared at me with a wide terrified glare, her tears falling freely.

"She was acting insane, I got up and reached for the phone. I told her I was calling the police...She welcomed it! "Call them!" She said, "But it won't make any difference...he took her...he was suppose to take me!""

"What do you mean who took her? Is she talking about Annabelle?"

Mrs Stephenson nodded, "The police had to break the door down to get in...it was horrible." She shook her head and wiped her eyes again before leaning over and taking another swig of tea.

"Mrs Stephenson please I have to find my daughter. Please I need to speak to Emma."

She shook her head, "You can't, they had to sedate her to keep her from hurting herself, she was inconsolable."

"Please," I insisted, "Did she say anything about where she was taken? And who this man was?"

"No...I'm sorry...that's all I can say, she mentioned something about the forest on the outskirts of the high school but that was it."

"Alright...thankyou for the information...if you need anything after all this is over...you have my number." She nodded and waved her hand in a dismissive sort of way as if my sentiment was polite but not needed. I gritted my teeth and left the room disappointed and frustrated.

I didn't leave the corridor as I paced back and forth outside the relatives room. I had to speak to Emma directly, crazy or not something had terrified her to the point of insanity and if whatever terrified her took Annabelle, well I would either have to go to the police or search it out myself.  
But what room was she staying in, what if the door was locked? I'd have to go back to the nurses station and check the board. Coming up with the plan was easy, getting around the nurses and orderlies would be another thing entirely.  
I turned the corridor and approached the nurses station, the same nurse who had lead me to see Mrs Stephenson was still sat there.

"Excuse me?"

She lifted her head up from her paper work and smiled, "Yes?"

"Could I get a box of tissues, Mrs Stephensons in quite a state."

"Sure, just wait here and I'll fetch some." She rose from her desk and headed into one of the back rooms marked laundry.

Quickly I scanned at the back board, her name wasn't there. Perhaps being a new admittance they hadn't assigned her a room. Leaning over as discreetly as I could to look at the nurses paper work I saw Emma's name written upon it. She was in one of the assessment rooms...room 3.

The nurse returned with the fresh box of tissues and handed them over the desk. "If you need anything else just ask us okay?"

I smiled courteously at the nurse and nodded, "Thankyou, I will."

I took the box of tissues with me down the hall, all the while looking for a sign which could direct me to the assessment ward. Finally i found it by chance, as I neared the ward though, the sound of screaming and shouting echoed ever closer. It reminded me of some sort of horror movie except the decore of the place was all wrong. I don't know what was more unnerving.  
There was another set of double doors with an intercom system. Shit. That was it, my plan went up in smoke, they wouldn't let me in even if I tried, not in this scenario. I lent against the wall trying to think of another solution when a man approached the ward, he just opened the door and went in.

Wait a minute...the doors were unlocked? I tested the door and it pulled open with ease, the mechanism must have been out. I quickly i dumped the box of tissues and slipped inside, and made my way down the corridor, I hoped I wouldnt pass a nurse station for fear of being questioned. Surprisingly enough though it was quiet apart from the screaming coming from some of the rooms.  
Finally I made it to room 3, it looked like any normal side room. There was a lock but it was operated from the outside manually without a key. I turned the lock and pulled open the door to peer inside. A girl lay confined to the bed by restraints and straps. The room was completely windowless, and even though the girl seemed to be dozing the lights in the room where glaringly bright.  
There was one chair placed at her bedside, I sat down and finally looked at the girl. Yes I remember Emma, she had been over to the house a few times, she was barely recognisable. Her dark hair had been roughly tied back in a pony tail but it still failed to be confined by that, it whisped all over her face in tangles and mats as if she had been pulling at it. There was a red crust which encircled her nostrils, evidence of some sort of nose bleed, the bruising around the bridge of her nose and her left eye suggested they had been a little brutal in restraining her.

Her breath came in a steady ragged rhythm, leaning over slightly I place a warm hand on her arm and her eyes darted open and she jumped back in fright.

"Shhh Emma...it's alright." Her eyes seemed to roll, which I suspected was due to the sedation.  
Her eyes finally found me and she focused, squinting for a moment. "Your Annabelle's Mum..."


End file.
